SUMMARY.

Colonist, Volume XIX, Issue 2200, 20 October 1877, Page 5 (Supplement)

SUMMARY.

NELSON AND DISTRICT.

. On Thursday, Sept. 20, an inquest was hold boforo he Coroner—Dr Squires—and a jury, of which Mr Haddow was foreman, touohing the death of the late Dr J. W. Bligh. -. After " viewing the body" tbe inquiry was adjourned to the Courthouse, whore the following evidence was adduced :—- Frederick DeC. Cornwall, retired captain of H. M. 75th Regiment, deposed : T reside at Wilden . Lodgo. I knew the deceased; John William Bligh. On Wednesday morning, together with Mr Oldham, ; I went to him to inquire as to his health, when Mrs< . Scott, his landlady, said she thought he would see us. 1 We knocked at his door, aiid he answered itnmedi- ., ately. He said ho was better, and intended getting , up soon, aad going to visit his patients. I suggested that it would be as well if I saw Dr Boor and requested him to pay the necessary visits. He said he felt so much better that he would go, and he made on appointment for. me to go with him at half-past two. He seemed very grateful to me for calling. Between two and three Dr Bligh's trap came over to , me and the boy said Mrs Scott sent him because she : could not get the Doctor to answer her. I got into . tbe trap and drove as fast as I could. Mrs Scott i was in a desperate.state. I knocked at the door, but < got no answer, and I called to him and said I would take the responsibility of breaking the door open. I tried to force it open with my shoulder, and then with an axe. I then went to the window, but could not at first force the catch. I then looked through the blind, and saw he was lying on his back on tbe ground, and I immediately broke.the window and went in. The first thing I noticed was a small bluecolored phial by his right hand, and there was altogether a peculiar odor in the house. I cannot say whether the stopper was in the phial at the time. I then had a suspicion as to what had occurred. I felt hij^heart to ascertain if there was any pulsation, and I .ancied there was. Tbe left hand and side of his face .were much discolored. I got out of the window, re-entered the trap and drove down to Dr Squires as the nearest medical man. I drove him buck, got / through the window again, and opened the door for him to enter the room. Dr Squires lound the.paper produced, it waß on the chest of drawers :— "Dear Sclanders—lam awfully sorry that this should happen. My great horror is that, my body should be pulled j and mauled about. There are a great many things I should like to have asked you Poor little Dentins has always been faithful to me according to bis light. If at sometime or another you can help him—l do not mean pecuniarily—will you do it ? Forgive me asking bo much. "J.W.8." Dr. Squires sent for some prisoners to place him on : the bed. Dr. Bligh was my first acquaintance in Nelson, and I knew him intimately, latterly he did not appear in good spirits. I know he felt tho loss of the Avalanohe very much. By the Foreman : I had not the slightest cause, to suspect he premeditated the act. I don't know that he had any.friends on the Avalanche coming to him. 'Ihe captain and officers were intimate friends of his; he came out in the ship. Elizabeth Ann Scott, deposed : I reside on the; bank of the Maitai. Dr Bligh lodged with me ; for some weeks he had not been in good health. On Monday he was ill in bed all day, and I only saw him once. On Tuesday morning he seemed very strange in his manner, and three times he asked me tbe Bame question, as to any messages. I saw him again at , half-past five in tbe afternoon, he still oppeored strange; be had a wild look. I asked him if he j would take anything; he said no. Ho rang about £ 'u'ght o'clock and had the fire lit, and he a9ked for < ,ien, ink, and } aper, be said, would I get a pen with t , long handle, for when he had a pen with a short { handle his ideas got contracted. I took him in the , paper, and he asked me if there was any more news ] ii'bout the Avalanche; he also said, unless there came f a particular message, I was not to disturb him. I t asked him if he would take any breakfast in tbe ( morning ; he said no, he would have some beef tea. j I left him in the front room, but between three aud i four in the morning, I heard bim in the dining room. ..t half-past eight on Wednesday morning, I called nim. He passed his boots out of the room, but I i did not see him. At half-past nine bis trap came, ( after that Captain Cornwall called, and when he left, j Mr Jones brought his little boy. He told me to tell , him to take him to Dr Williams, but I said he could < not walk, and he said he would see him himself, at , half-past two; when Captain Cornwall did not come ( exactly, I knocked at his door to know what was to ] be done with the trap. I eould get no answer, so I , thought he had fallen down in a fit, and as the door ( js . vxa« locked, I sent for Captain Cornwall. On Wednes- ( K7*y morning, the fireplace in the parlor was full of ( ■fe«irnt paper. Nothing he said, or did, led me to ■7 ..ink he meant to make away with himself. ■77 James Sclanders, merchant, deposed : I knew the ] ■. iiceased. I have noticed lately that he has been f K <jnwell, but nothing peculiar in his manner. I have , Ri ;.ot seen him since last Thursday. After I heard of F Sua decease yesterday, I received this letter:— , r " 10 pm. "My dear Sclanders,—lt seems strange for me to < be writing to you now, but your note of this after- 1 noon has struck a vein which I cannot allow to drop, j You-jray think it strange that I should in such an , apparently meditated way be rushing into the audience of my Maker. I certainly am, but why ? I , have been appealed to do so. Some of the B,ighs , &.- Kay be bitter and bad,, but as far as I know we are , H nut cowards. I have been appealed to appear at . ■r/^sftr's, bar, pnd to Cffisar's bar I shall go. I shall £ B^'fy'l.".* there in all and great humility, knowing how , M^'atly and bow grievously I have erred in this life, ] MkA I Bball be able to say that I have more tban once , Htf'jked life and limb to save my fellow-men. This ( Mjpvould seem like brag if I said bo under other circum; . ■■* stances, but believe, me I have stood in the gap for ] ",! more than one man/ Ido not know whether I can ( give away anything in this way, at any rate they are | not valuable, .three or four photographs, I should like you to have. '; jk& ."Dear Sclanders, forgive my being such an ass as | I* v.-ytite such trash. 7'" 7"'' ,' 7 "J, W. B." ] I I conclude ho was not in a sound state of mind., I t ■> don't know that he had any trouble. I have not I B ,»en him since the news of the loss ofthe Avalanche I B^rgj^d;' My note to him merely reminded him that 1 Hp':! not keptan appointment. f;lrles Edward Bunny, barrister, deposed: Delived with me "since Christmas last. I have nothing peculiar about,. him lately, _ except has been ill! Oh Monday he did not get up. 1 suggested dropping a note to Dr Boor, asking him .'.l see his patients, and I did get him to do so. On ;;ue«day morning, just before .nine, I gave him some < ■ eel tea. He seemed cheerful enough. 1 did not 1 ■-j home after that, I went to Motueka. The news 1 Bof ' s Avalanche undoubtedly depressed him very . B r>iuoli. I believe he was, born iu Canada, and that ' ■ lijfarher died when he was about twelve years old. Eile was about thirty-three or thirty-four years of W' agei' He was ai single man. I never heard that he bad suffered from brain fever. Mr Sclanders stated that he remembered Dr Bligh telling him that on the West Coaßt of Africa he was very ill, and was out of his mind for twenty-four boars..<''' Leonard Boor, .surgeon to the Nelson Hospital, deposed: I knew; the deceased, and saw him last ■■■■•:;&. fire o'clock on Monday last. He was in bed iiaining Pf;;Buffering'from severe cold, and exhfe*« ion from fatigue-^—as he expressed it, thoroughly * done- up,. He entered into conversation about his Ik xmu■■:! saw nothing peculiar about him beyond rtd'K' complained of. I heard on Wednesday that 81 ..dead. I went to bis house for the purpose of ,noj a post-mortem examination/ There was no lU'ot anything particular in the room. He wob ipi and lying on the bed, and had the appear>sof having died suddenly—that is to say,' his _4ianjls, and-neck-were livid. There was no U^ofanything deleterious at his lips. On exa;njs his brain I found evidences,, of old disease of udeaibr'anes.' [They were opaque, and adhering to. ".'tfliostahce of the brain. The right Jung w^s 7-;."! to the walls ef the chest for nearly'the Le_t, being evident* pf old pleurisy, The A

heart was small, and rigidly contraoted, the cavities

all but one being empty. His liver was very extensively diseased, that also being of old standing—that

j is, he might get about without complaining, but still j having old disease, about him. His other organs were healthy. In making this examination, I found no smell of prussio acid about the body. I may mention that the blood was in a dark fluid state, but that might be .occasioned by any other sudden death. I removed the stomach and analysed the contents today : there was about 6 oz. of a dark fluid. On opening the stomach there was a slight odor of prussio acid. I employed the three usual tests for detection of prussio acid- tbe first being nitrate of silver, which gave siight indication of the presence of that substance; tbe sulphate of ammonia test failed to indicate its prosenco. ns did also the iron. From all the appearances of the body, and from the evidence I have heard, I beliove he died from the shock causing paralysis of the heart, conduced to, I should say,, by the old brain and liver disease. I can quite understand that a man in his peculiar frame of mind —meditating suicide—might by the very shock die in the act of raiaing.poison to his lips, in the state of melancholy the evidence shows him to have been in.

By the Foreman—Ten drops of prussio acid would hive killed him, but there was no evidence of his having taken that quantity. He was taking prussio acid for stomach disorder. Tho quantity of prussio acid in his stomach was .not sufficient to cause instant death to a healthy man. Two tumblers were put in my hand by the police, one in which an egg had been beaten up with wine, the other with tbe dregs of a fluid. There was no prussic acid in either. I have not tested for any other poison, because there was no suspicion of any other. The appearance of deceased wa* that of a person who had died of apoplexy. Evan Prichard, chemist and druggist, deposed : I reside in Trafalgar-Btreet, Nelson. I.knew the deceased. On Monday morning oarly I received a card from him on which was writton the names of two drugs— -_ oz. nitrate bismuth, and 1 oz. hydrocyanic aoid. I sent the dilute prussic acid. I believe the boy called for it. I am in ihe habit of supplying him with drugs. Dr Bligh never took prußeio acid in my shop.

Dr Boor, recalled, said a poisonous dose of prussic acid would kill a person in less than two seconds : in those circumstances the odor of the poison would be detected in the blood, as small a doso as six drops of the strength of the British pharmacopoeia might kill a person in ill health. Tbe person taking it would fall down in a heap, doubled up, not at full length. I foel quite certain the deceased did not take a poisonous dose of prussic acid ; as I have said, I consider his death was caused by shock.

This closed the evidence, and the jury, after a brief interval, returned a verdict, ," That tho immediate cause of the death of the deceased J. W. Bligh was paralysis of the heart produued by a shock to the system."